overnight baked french toast

Baked splendor…This is hands-down my favorite go-to breakfast recipe for making holidays memorable and easy, for feeding crowds with ease, and for a fabulous pot luck brunch item. Before I wax poetic about how incredible good it is, let me just say how this recipe saves my sanity on crazy Christmas mornings because you make it the night before and come morning, the only thing you need to do is stick it in the oven, then serve. It’s also a real crowd pleaser and frankly, probably the most requested recipe that I make.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-large baguette

• 4 eggs

• 2 cups milk

• 1tsp cinnamon

• 1/4tsp nutmeg

• 4T vanilla extract

• 1/2 c sugar

• 3T butter

Crumb topping:

• 1/4 c brown sugar

• 1/4 c butter, softened

• 1/4 c oatmeal

• 1/2 t cinnamon

Grease a large baking dish with butter or cooking spray. 

Slice baguette into 2” slices and place cut-side up in prepared baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and sugar. 

Slowly pour mixture over the bread.

Allow the bread to fully absorb the liquid, flipping slices over when mixture is half soak in so both sides are equally saturated. I’ve found that this step sometimes can easily take 20 minutes for the bread to become fully soaked, so give it the time needed to absorb.

Once all the mixture is soaked in, top each slice of bread with a pat of butter.

Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for overnight.

The next morning:

Preheat oven to 500º. 

Prepare the crumb topping by mixing all the ingredients together and then set aside.

Place French Toast pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the oven, flip over each piece and top with a good helping of the crumb topping.

Return to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.

Serve as is…no syrup needed!